You're inspiring Alex!!! I have to give kudos to you for taking a language class on the side. I have wanted to do this (with Italian) after auditing one semester of Italian so many years ago, but I haven't been able to make it work yet. Maybe when Dan is in school full time, I will follow your example (except not Chinese-- that's pretty ambitious, for sure!) YOU ROCK!
Alex, welcome!! We'll be expecting you to show up on our doorstep in no time.
Just to double-check: Are you sure you want to study the traditional characters? If the idea is to appreciate the aesthetic grace of the language and/or read historical and classical documents, this is the way to go (which is why most foreign university courses teach them) ... but if the idea is to prepare yourself to come kicking around China, out here it's simplified all the way (and they're easier to learn).
The good news, though, is (i) it's easier to go from traditional to simplified than the other way around, and (ii) the spoken language is all the same - so it's not as if you're making some serious mistake. Enjoy!
John, good point about the character sets. This course starts with either traditional or simplified (as selected by the teacher), then switches to the other later, so you're grounded in both. In upcoming courses you can use whichever set you prefer (which will be simplified, of course), and will focus more on conversation anyway. Which will be very useful when Ami finally boots me off the continent.
7 comments:
I know, I'm out of my mind... just can't resist anymore.
Wow!! Luckily for you we have rather an expert in this field...Unluckily for you he lives on the opposite coast.
You're inspiring Alex!!! I have to give kudos to you for taking a language class on the side. I have wanted to do this (with Italian) after auditing one semester of Italian so many years ago, but I haven't been able to make it work yet. Maybe when Dan is in school full time, I will follow your example (except not Chinese-- that's pretty ambitious, for sure!) YOU ROCK!
I bet you will like drawing the characters.
I think it is good that you have long train rides- its that one of the hardest languages to learn?
That's awesome!
Alex, welcome!! We'll be expecting you to show up on our doorstep in no time.
Just to double-check: Are you sure you want to study the traditional characters? If the idea is to appreciate the aesthetic grace of the language and/or read historical and classical documents, this is the way to go (which is why most foreign university courses teach them) ... but if the idea is to prepare yourself to come kicking around China, out here it's simplified all the way (and they're easier to learn).
The good news, though, is (i) it's easier to go from traditional to simplified than the other way around, and (ii) the spoken language is all the same - so it's not as if you're making some serious mistake. Enjoy!
John, good point about the character sets. This course starts with either traditional or simplified (as selected by the teacher), then switches to the other later, so you're grounded in both. In upcoming courses you can use whichever set you prefer (which will be simplified, of course), and will focus more on conversation anyway. Which will be very useful when Ami finally boots me off the continent.
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